


Sunset

by ConCorpRepresentative



Category: Hermitcraft
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-21
Updated: 2019-11-21
Packaged: 2021-02-26 00:41:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 923
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21514705
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ConCorpRepresentative/pseuds/ConCorpRepresentative
Summary: After weeks of being missing, Doc visits Ren at the HRN. They stay and watch the sunset.
Comments: 1
Kudos: 65





	Sunset

**Author's Note:**

> This is just a short dialogue focused piece to practice my character interactions. Hope you enjoy!

“What are you doing?”

“Watching the sunset.”

“Oh.”

Doc sat beside Ren on the railway, the tracks still unfinished. Ren had been working on the HRN for a few weeks non-stop, now that Speedy Pines had been finished, and hadn’t really been present in the weekly meetings the Hermits held. Doc had come to visit his friend after the third meeting absence, and although he wouldn’t show it, he was beginning to worry.

Ren sure as hell looked like he had been working for weeks on end. He had bags under his eyes, and looked like he was struggling to keep them open. His posture was slouched, and knuckles raw and burning from the redstone. Doc made sure that the redstone didn’t stain his coat.

“Doc,”

“Yes?”

“The sun is taking a long time to set.”

Doc let out a breathy laugh.

“Time always goes slower when you’re tired.”

Ren’s shoulders tensed up. He looked up to the sky and put his sunglasses back on. 

Doc noticed his beard was getting unkempt. Ren took great pride in his appearance, and a day where his hair grew out of style was a day where something was wrong.

“You’ve been working really hard, Ren.”

“Day in, day out, baby.” Ren smiled.

“I know how that is!” Doc laughed, “But you do need to take care of yourself, man. The HRN can be completed later on.”

“I’m just really invested. I really want to get this done as soon as possible.”

“Why is that?”

Ren stopped talking. He opened his mouth to say something, but furrowed his eyebrows instead. He laughed.

“You’ve stumped me. I don’t know why.” He turned to Doc and tilted his head, “I just feel like it’s been in the back of my mind for ages. I’ve been getting really stressed when I start a new project and leave this one unfinished. I have so much inspiration and it’s just getting lost with this.”

“If you want, I can take over dude.”

“Nah, nah. I can’t not do it. When I’m working on the HRN it feels like a chore- it’s dragging and dragging, and it’s dragging me down.” Ren began to rub his hands together. The redstone powder stained onto his hand mingled, and a blister on his palm immediately split, “But when I’m working on something else, I suddenly get all this inspiration for the railway. It’s confusing.”

“Sounds confusing.”

“At least I’m making sense. I haven’t slept in… days.”

“Why not? It sounds like you’ve got a serious case of burnout. Sometimes you just need to chill and not do anything.”

“I can’t sleep during the day.”

“Then sleep in the night. Play some minigames in the day to relax.”

“The sun is taking a long time to set.”

Doc looked back to the horizon. The sun was still hanging low in the sky, and looked as though it hadn’t moved at all.

“Wait… Were you making a metaphor?”

“No.” Ren turned to Doc, “I’ve been watching the sun all week. It hasn’t moved since Monday.”

“Are you kidding me?”

“No. It’s just… stopped.”

“That’s pretty freaking weird. Should I tell Xisuma? If the server’s broken, we should probably-”

“No, it’s interesting! I’ve got a question for you, Doc.” Ren brought his legs up onto the rail, “How long would it take for you to notice if all the birds in the world stopped singing?”

“Well…”

“Long, it’d take long. How long would it take for us to notice if the trees stopped shedding leaves- to notice if monsters started spawning in day- to notice if… if the sun stopped moving.”

“They’re all so big in our lives.” Doc pondered aloud, “Surely we’d notice quickly.”

“My thoughts exactly! And yet you didn’t realise the sun had stopped until I pointed it out.” Ren was getting more enthusiastic by the second, “All these things; these huge things. They seem _so_ big to us, and yet we pay so little attention to them.”

“Maybe they’re waiting. Maybe the sun is waiting.” Grinning, Doc looked at his reflection in the sea, “We don’t pay enough attention to him, so he’s taken a stand! Rebelled!”

“Against the man!” Ren stood, “Stick it to the man!” He threw his hands into the air and let out a war cry.

“This makes us the man!” Doc stood up as well, laughing, “But still. Stick it to the man!” He also let out a triumphant shout, releasing a lot of pent up emotions.

They both proceeded to ‘stick it to the man’, letting out cries of anger towards the sun, and even trying to push one another into the water. And when they had finished, and sat down, Ren had a huge grin on his face, and tired eyes.

“We really showed him, huh?”

“Yeah we did, Ren. Maybe he noticed us.” Doc looked out. “I think… I think it matters when we notice these things. By the time we would’ve noticed the birds stop singing, there would be no way to get them back. We should really pay more attention to the things that mean a lot to us.”

He looked back down to see Ren curled up on the railway track, fast asleep. Doc smirked, feeling the darkness wash over them as the sun began to move again.

And to protect his friend, Doc stayed by his side all night, until the next day’s Sunrise.

It was quiet.

It was boring.

But at least he was paying attention to the things important to him.


End file.
